Brooklyn Nets (34-26) @ Charlotte Bobcats (13-47)

Time Warner Cable Arena 7:00

TV: YES – RADIO: WFAN 660 AM/101.9 FM

The Brooklyn Nets are searching for some answers and maybe tonight when they travel to play the Charlotte Bobcats they may find some answers.  The Nets are losers of four out of their last five games, playing three of those games without Joe Johnson.  The last two games were winnable games versus Dallas and Chicago although the Nets continued their second half struggles to lose ground in the standings.

The third quarter problems still haunt the Nets nightly and when they play above .500 teams they are unable to make up for the struggles.  The Nets are last in scoring in the third quarter and to date have probably gave at least eight games away with lopsided quarters after halftime.  Deron Williams has addressed this problem with coach P.J. Carlesimo and they decided to make the halftime speeches shorter to allow for longer warmup times.  The change did not help.

The Bobcats are struggling to say the least and are losers of seven in a row where they went 0-4 on their recent road trip.  The problems with the Bobcats are very deep and the lack of talent on the roster is the main problem although they are setting themselves up for the future with cap space and high draft picks.  The defense is the biggest problem for the young squad at this time.

The Nets will try to change it up a bit with their forward spots and try to play Brook Lopez and Andray Blatche together more and see if it can create mismatches for other teams.  Carlesimo has also vowed to play the sharpshooting Mirza Teletovic  more and see if the Bosnian can stay in the rotation and stretch the floor for Brooklyn.

[quote_box]”I think it’s a good strategy,” said Deron Williams, averaging 22.2 points over the last six games. “With the way things have been going lately, it doesn’t hurt to try. We pick and roll with those guys, now (teams) have to worry about two people instead of one. That opens things up for not only me, but the rest of the team.”[/quote_box]

MATCHUP OF THE GAME: Deron Williams vs Kemba Walker

Williams is coming off a sub-par effort in Chicago where he had 14 points and six assists to go with three turnovers. Turnovers have haunted Williams lately and it is something he knows he has to curtail in order for the Nets to be effective.  The addition of a healthy Johnson will help take the offensive load off  Williams and allow him to use his size more for post-ups on the smaller Bobcats guards.   Kemba Walker is avergaing 17.3 points, 5.6 assists, 3.4 rebounds, 1.9 steals per game in just over 34 minutes of action.  Walker scored 15 points and handed out a career-high-tying 11 assists for his third double-double of the season in the last blowout loss to Portland.  he is coming on as of late with his increased playing time and will be a difficult cover for a bigger Williams.

STAT FOR TONIGHT: The Bobcats have lost seven in a row by an average of 22.1 points going into tonight’s tilt against Brooklyn.

Nets:

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Bobcats: